Morocco, Cameroon draw in African/World Cup combined qualifier

2009-06-08

The Moroccan national football team won one point after a goalless draw Sunday in their match against Cameroon. Morocco still hopes to qualify for the 2010 World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations.

By Naoufel Cherkaoui for Magharebia in Rabat – 08/06/09

[File] Morocco's Atlas Lions draw 0-0 against Cameroon.

The Moroccan national football team tied 0-0 against their Cameroonian counterparts on Sunday (June 7th) in Yaoundé before an estimated 50,000 fans. In this second match of the third and final round of the 2010 World Cup/Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, the Moroccan team performed well, thus providing relative relief among Moroccan fans.

The Moroccan team played their match with calm and self-confidence, while the Cameroonian players lacked harmony and concentration, in spite of the presence on their team of star striker Samuel Eto'o.

The Cameroonian team controlled the ball in the first half, but they passed up several attempts, most of which were the result of counterattacks.

The Moroccans, especially the weakest midfield players, lost the ball on many occasions. The level of performance by the Moroccan defence players was excellent, especially goalkeeper Nader Lemiaghri, who managed to save several scoring opportunities.

Lemiaghri is said to have played the best match of his career so far. The newcomer, defender Mehdi ben Attia, was considered the man of the match and a major gain for the Moroccan team.

The Moroccan team almost sprang a surprise at the beginning of the match, when a strong shot by Christian Basir hit the bar in the 4th minute. The team passed up another scoring opportunity in the 8th minute following an attack led by Hajji that confused the Cameroonian defenders.

Cameroon's Stephane Mbia passed up the most important scoring opportunity in the first half, following a very strong shot in the 14th minute that passed close to the bar.

During the second half, the performance of the Moroccan team improved. They had greater energy overall than the older Cameroonian players.

Hemdaoui, top scorer of the Dutch league, passed up many scoring opportunities because of slowness of movement. The first was in the 20th minute with a weak shot following a good pass from teammate Hajji, and the second in the 27th minute when he played a weak shot to the hand of the Cameroonian goalkeeper. Moroccan fans regretted the absence of their star Marouane Chamakh, who was sidelined by an injury.

Morocco coach Roger Lemerre said during a press conference after the match that the draw kept their hopes to qualify alive. Lemerre also praised his players' performance.

"Thanks to the Lions, and congratulations to Lemiaghri and Mehdi ben Attia, as well as Hajji," said a fan. "We are sorry that Hemdaoui passed up many scoring opportunities and the chance to win three points. We depend on our players a lot during the next match."

The Moroccan team, who play in Group A, billed "the death group", lost to Gabon in the first match. In the second match, Gabon defeated Togo last Saturday, 3-0. Now the Gabonese team have the top spot in this group with 6 points, followed by Togo with three points. Both Cameroon and Morocco have one point each. Morocco will play against Togo on the latter's field on June 20th.